Wistar rats weighing 150–200 g were purchased from the Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research), Jammu, India. Animals were maintained under air conditioner controlled ambient temperature (25 C), with an average day length of 11.5 hours and were acclimatized to these housing conditions for two weeks prior to the start of experiment. The animals were given standard pelleted feed (GodrejVR, Mumbai, India) and water ad libitum. The experimental design was approved by the University Animal Ethical Committee.